The Official Football Thread 2006/2007 (2 Viewers)

[Jimmy_B]

Is anyone going to watch the Coca Cola Championship now that it's going to be shown on Foxtel?

I might have a looksie and see how it compares to the A-League.

yes. god bless fox sports 3. from what i've heard it's basically gonna be a football + cricket channel. awesome

 

[PatG]

Yeah... now all we need is a rugby channel like NZ have and I'll be set.

 

[matt#1]

As I was thinking about all of the players that Chelsea have signed since being backed by Abramovich's millions, I was also somewhat surprised to see how many have left during this small period of time. In fact, more than 50% of their players signed since Abramovich took over have left already, including Kezman; Parker; Del Horno; Jarosik; Duff; C Cole (he was there before Abramovich took over...but anyway..); Bridge wants to leave; Glen Johnson is out on loan; Drogba is unsettled; Crespo wants a return to Italy; Robben has eyes for Madrid; Gallas has gone AWOL; Gudjohnsen has left...Chelsea is certainly a side with player retention problems.

This proves that money is not everything and that even though they continue to sign a seemingly endless amount of world class players...many are starting to realise that Chelsea is not the place to be if you actually want to play regular football. Hopefully more players in the future will see this as a deterrent to joining Chelsea. Just looking through that list of names again (and I am quite sure that I have probably left some players out)...The players that have left could make up a whole starting XI plus a couple of subs that would would easily challenge for the premiership title!

Is Chelsea showing signs of decline already...or am I just being overly optimistic?

 

[PatG]

Mourinho said that he's going to play 4-4-2. I hope he does cos he played that formation towards the end of last season and they lost a couple of games and drew as well.

 

[matt#1]

4-4-2...aye? Maybe it will look something like this? ...

GK: Cech

RB: Ferreira
CB: Terry
CB: Carvalho
LB: Bridge/Gallas/a new signing (A. Cole)?

RM: J. Cole
CM: Ballack
CM: Lampard
LM: Robben

CF: Shevchenko
CF: Drogba


Strange that he would play a 4-4-2 with soooo many class midfielders. I thought that he would once again go with the 4-5-1 formation. I left the DM duo of Essien and Makelele out of the last line-up but I am sure that at least one of them will feature somewhere in the starting line-up. He might play a 4-4-2 with no wingers (like AC Milan?!?)


If I was Mourinho, I would start the side as follows: ...

GK: Cech

RB: Ferreira
CB: Terry
CB: Carvalho
LB: Gallas?/ Bridge/ new signing

DM: Makelele
RM: J. Cole
CM: Ballack
CM: Lampard
LM: Robben

CF: Shevchenko

 

[copious]

I'd have both Drogba and Shevchenko on. They will be a nightmare to mark, Drogba would be a handful as it is. Shevchenko can then clean up the scraps and start making RVN tap ins

Peter Cech turning all gangsta.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41965000/jpg/_41965920_cech_snoop203.jpg

 

[LMF^^]

Reyes admitted that he is on his way to Real Madrid, I'm surprised that none of their forwards have left yet.

Rooney and Scholes got sent off against Porto, hope the ref don't report it so they won't miss any games.

Liverpool got thrashed 5-0 by Mainz, not the best way to prepare fo the Champions League qualifier.

 

[Constip8edSkunk]

i dont understand the decisions of some of the players... like swp and obi mikel to chelsea, the plethora of forwards to real...

ouch. FSV Mainz 5-0 Liverpool but the goals were scored , only after benitez decided to make some changes, but still what happened to the 10 straight clean sheets ...

 

[hachoo]

I'd be willing to go with this for Chelsea

GK: Cech

RB: Ferreira
CB: Terry
CB: Carvalho
LB: Gallas

CM: Essien
RM: J. Cole
CM: Ballack
AM: Lampard
LM: Robben

CF: Drogba

Liverpools defence is one of the best, though getting older. Thing with Chelsea is its a waste to see all these good players on the sidelines. I'd prefer to see Shevchenko and other quality members to go to craphouse sides to make it a contest.

 

[RUB!X]

Liverpool also lost against Grasshoppers, the possibility of losing Reyes is dissapointing, but i wonder for how much and whether there is anyone coming the other way ...

 

[matt#1]

Ribery is interested in Arsenal. So he could be one such possibility to replace Reyes. Ribery is also interested in Lyon...so Wenger should move quickly if he wants to sign him.

 

[matt#1]

Manchester United's new £18.6m signing Michael Carrick is set to miss the start of the Premiership season after injuring his left foot against Ajax.
The midfielder lasted just 14 minutes on his second appearance before getting injured in a tackle from behind.

"It looks like he'll be out for a few weeks - there's a lot of swelling," said manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

Manchester United's first league game is against Fulham on 20 August and Ferguson already has several injury worries with Gary Neville, Gabriel Heinze and Nemanja Vidic all currently sidelined.

Rio Ferdinand and John O'Shea also picked up injuries against Porto although both should be fit for the start of the season.

Fuck. That is all very bad news given the fact that Rooney and Scholes are also likely to miss the start of the season because of red cards they recieved against Porto. The large number of players missing was a key factor in our poor start to the last season. Hopefully the same dosen't happen this season.

In the only good news of the night...Ryan Giggs' free-kick gave United a 1-0 win and meant they were the winners of the four-team LG Amsterdam tournament....but at some cost.

 

[LMF^^]

Well it certainly ain't good news, hopefully Carrick won't be out for too long.

Chelsea lost against MLS All Stars, Joe Cole got injured in that game too. Hopefully they'll repeat their shitty form in their openin to the season.

 

[copious]

Didnt Ribery just sign a contract extension with his club?

 

[bazookajoe]

Carrick certainly proving his worth early.

 

[LMF^^]

Yeah well we paid Everton 27mil and had to wait one whole month before Rooney gets to kick a ball for us, but look who's talkin now.

I ain't too worried about Carrick, I'm sure he'll come back strong. I just hope the rest of the squad gets back to full health soon.

 

[copious]

Does that mean Darren Fletcher will play central mid? :S

 

[matt#1]

Carrick certainly proving his worth early.

He should only be out for about 3 weeks...so he still has plenty of time to prove his worth. In any case, I think that he will prove to be more worthy than what Shaun Wright-Phillips is to Chelsea. 18.6 million is alot of money, but I think that people forget that Chelsea paid over 20 million for SWP...a player that rarely gets a game for them.

 

[matt#1]

Does that mean Darren Fletcher will play central mid? :S

God help us if Fergie starts Fletcher in the absence of Carrick . The lad tries hard enough but he just isn't good enough for a top club like Man United. He would do well at a smaller EPL club.

If I was Fergie, I would start O'Shea and Scholes in central midfield. Carrick to replace O'Shea when he returns from injury.

 

[Jimmy_B]

18.6 million is alot of money, but I think that people forget that Chelsea paid over 20 million for SWP...a player that rarely gets a game for them.

money is irrelevant for chelsea. they have no budget. they'd probably rate the signing of wright phillips a success as it stopped arsenal from getting a player they wanted for some time and set back their squad building plans. same deal with essien and man utd, and with ballack and obi no matter how succesful they are on the pitch.